Filner backs convention-stadium

Mayor also calls for creation of a 'Museum of Comic Books" that would keep Comic-Con in San Diego and attract 'zombie' tourists

Mayor Bob Filner, left, awaits his chance to speak at a San Diego Foundation forum on redevelopment. To his left if Jeff Graham, president of Civic San Diego, and Steve Russell, an activist in North Park revitalization.
-Roger Showley

Mayor Bob Filner, left, awaits his chance to speak at a San Diego Foundation forum on redevelopment. To his left if Jeff Graham, president of Civic San Diego, and Steve Russell, an activist in North Park revitalization.

Mayor Bob Filner backed a Chargers stadium-convention center expansion combination Friday as good for the city and a possible money saver.

“I say we’re not going to put public money into a private effort,” he said. “But that leaves some kind of room to talk to them, and we will be talking.”

Filner, who outlined his thoughts at a San Diego Foundation forum on neighborhood revitalization, said the stadium idea opens up the possibility of generating new revenue to replace money no longer available from redevelopment agencies.

The mayor said he is interested in a dual-use facility because it could potentially save 25 percent off a combined $1.6 billion price tag for convention expansion and a downtown football stadium.

“And what if, to be very simple,” he said, “you put a roof and a floor on a stadium, neither of which we have now? You could have concert venues with a roof and other things. With a floor, you can play hockey and soccer, basketball. You could be the site of the Final 4 — Go Aztecs! You could do all these things.”

He also said such a facility would make Qualcomm Stadium and the Valley View Casino Center obsolete, freeing them up for development and generating money for the city.

“Those are on city lands,” the mayor said. “Imagine what we could do from a public perspective with that public space. Imagine what you could do for our community. That kind of stuff could finance things for the city.”

The idea of a combined project, several blocks away from the current convention center, is one that has been raised before, most notably by the San Diego Chargers and the U-T San Diego Editorial Board. This alternative plan has been rejected by the backers of the current convention center expansion project as not meeting the need for contiguous space for large meetings.

While the $520 million expansion is moving along, it still needs the approval of the California Coastal Commission, and its financing plan, which relies on a new hotel tax, faces legal hurdles. A Superior Court Judge recently ruled that the tax is legal, but opponents have promised to appeal, which is likely to delay the expansion for a year or more.

Filner’s concept resembles the Chargers’ plan, but it differs in that it wouldn’t use revenue from redeveloping Qualcomm Stadium and the Valley View Casino sports arena sites to finance the stadium. That financing would be up to the Chargers.

Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani said the team has talked over a variety of concepts with Filner.

“We look forward to continuing to work together with the mayor and City Council as the convention center tax litigation and Coastal Commission review continue to unfold,” he said in an email Friday.

City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who represents the Midway area where the sports arena is located, said he is “open to good stadium ideas that protect taxpayer dollars.”

“But it is critical the existing convention center expansion move forward without delay because it will create thousands of jobs San Diegans need and generate tax revenue the city can invest in every neighborhood,” Faulconer said.

Joint use was envisioned last year in a U-T San Diego Editorial Board plan that would locate such a facility on the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal (TAMT). The Chargers prefer the East Village city bus yard site at 14th and K streets and adjacent Tailgate Park parking lot that serves Petco Park patrons.

“The (joint-use) concept works,” said John Lynch, chief executive officer of U-T San Diego. “The only site that makes sense is TAMT. If not there, a combo in North County is an alternative that has support as well.”

A new stadium has been a Chargers’ goal for more than a decade because the team sees Qualcomm as inadequate in the age of luxury skyboxes and ideal conditions for spectators. The team has not exercised its option to relocate to Los Angeles or other cities and Filner said that means he has time to work an agreement with the team.

Filner has not considered the stadium a high priority and during his campaign last year repeatedly said he would oppose any deal that is not favorable to the city. His comments Friday were the most extensive on the stadium issue since taking office in December.

Steve Cushman, a member of the Convention Center Corp. board, said he welcomed the mayor’s interest in meeting the Chargers’ stadium needs.

“His forthright thinking is refreshing,” he said.

But adding convention uses to a stadium rather than moving forward with the present expansion plans does not meet the additional and contiguous space needs sought by large-convention planners, said Cushman, former Mayor Jerry Sanders’ point person on convention center expansion.

“If we don’t do this, we lose Comic-Con and 125,000 room nights,” he said, as well any other big conventions that can’t fit into the center’s present size.

The current center can accommodate 80 percent of all conventions, Cushman said, and the planned expansion would take the capacity up to what’s needed by 90 percent of conventions.

“Keeping the present facility and building a joint-use facility, a convention facility across the street, doesn’t move you to that level,” he said.

The multiuse stadium idea was also backed by former redevelopment chairman Fred Maas, who envisioned a sports and entertainment district along the lines of the LA Live and arena venue in Los Angeles. But without redevelopment property taxes available, his idea is on hold until the Legislature comes up with a new approach to financing public facilities.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who followed Filner at the San Diego Foundation forum, said he hopes a new financing mechanism can be passed in the Legislature this year or next.

While outlining his stadium-convention ideas, Filner also addressed the worry that Comic-Con might leave San Diego if the convention center isn’t enlarged. He offered an idea to make San Diego a year-round mecca for Comic-Con enthusiasts.

“As part of the convention center expansion or the stadium, we build a National Museum of Comic Books,” he said.

Cleveland has boosted its tourism business with the “incredible” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Filner said, he suggested a comics museum would be just as popular.

“Who would come here? All the zombies — they’d be here forever, they’d be here all year,” Filner said. “I’m not being facetious, by the way. If we had something like that, it would set San Diego apart and allow us to do things we just simply cannot do.”

The mayor also took the opportunity to justify a bid with Tijuana for the 2024 Summer Olympics as a way to improve cross-border trade and development. He said he had recently received a letter from U.S. Olympic organizers inviting San Diego to submit a bid and he said he replied positively.

“Whether we win or not, we win,” he said, because the effort would identify ways to knit the two sides of the border closer together.

“In and of itself, it will get people excited about the relationship between our two cities and our two nations,” he said. “So we’re going to use that as a focal point for talking about some of the issues I think we should be talking about.”